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Germans stay positive despite global crash

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Germans stay positive despite global crash
Photo: DPA

The catastrophic news from the world's financial markets has not put out the average German, a new survey has found. A slim majority are apparently optimistic about the next 12 months.

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"Fifty-three percent are mainly optimistic about the next 12 months, while only twelve percent have pronounced fears," writes Renate Köcher, head of the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research, in Saturday's edition of financial weekly Wirtschaftswoche.

Köcher also says that as many as 43 percent of Germans expect an economic upswing in the next six months, while 33 percent expect an unchanged situation. Only 15 percent expect a downturn.

"The day-to-day experience of average citizens stands in complete contrast to the daily terrible news stories," she adds. While the general situation seems to be governed by uncertainty, most Germans seem to consider their own jobs safer than they did three or four years ago.

The current eurozone crisis doesn't seem to have affected German confidence in the euro very much either. Another survey, published this weekend in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, found that 65 percent of Germans believe the European single currency will still exist in 2021.

Germans who live in the former East are more sceptical about the future of the euro. Forty-one percent of those believe the euro won't exist in ten years' time, an opinion shared by only 28 percent of western Germans.

Nevertheless, uncertainty does seem to be growing among Germans. A new survey by state broadcaster ZDF found that 17 percent fewer are confident about the economy than one month ago.

DAPD/The Local/bk

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